Court rejects complaint against Folha journalist – 03/15/2024 – Power

The Electoral Court of São Paulo rejected this Friday (15) a complaint filed by the state Public Ministry against journalists Artur Rodrigues, from Sheetand Joaquim de Carvalho, from the Brasil 247 portal, for publishing reports related to a shooting that occurred in Paraisópolis during the 2022 electoral campaign.

At the time, the Sheet revealed that Tarcísio de Freitas’ team (Republicans) ordered a cameraman to delete the video of the shooting, which occurred during the campaign schedule of the current governor and then candidate for the Government of São Paulo.

The complaint, signed by prosecutor Fabiano Augusto Petean, from the 1st Electoral Zone in São Paulo, claims that the journalists “disclosed, during the electoral campaign period, facts that they knew were untrue in relation to Tarcísio de Freitas” and that these facts were “capable of to exert influence on the electorate”.

Judge Antonio Maria Patiño Zorz rejected the complaint alleging a procedural error by the MP-SP.

The investigation was initially opened against the governor and, after filing, the Prosecutor’s Office decided to investigate and then denounce the journalists. The agency also stated that it is analyzing a possible agreement on non-criminal prosecution.

According to the judge, it would be up to the Prosecutor’s Office to file the complaint or offer a non-criminal prosecution agreement.

“It should be noted that there is no legal provision for filing a complaint and subsequently canceling the case so that the benefit can be assessed”, says the decision. The judge also pointed out that “the offer of the complaint in an archived file is also wrong”.

The decision does not extend to matters relating to the content of the complaint itself against the journalists.

During the campaign for the second round of the election, a Jovem Pan professional was filming Tarcísio’s schedule in Paraisópolis, in the west zone of São Paulo, when an exchange of gunfire with the police ended with a man dead in the community.

At the time, the professional was asked questions about what he had filmed and the order for him to delete the images, according to audio published by Sheet.

“Did you film the police shooting?” asks a member of the campaign. “No, effectively exchanging shots, no. I’m shooting at the guys from the police”, replies the cameraman. In the same conversation, the team member states: “You have to delete it.”

The cameraman told the reporter that he found Tarcísio’s security request “very strange” and that he ended up not deleting the recorded images.

To support the complaint, prosecutor Petean presented an excerpt from a report on the Brasil 247 portal which stated that Tarcísio “prepared a farce in Paraisópolis so that the candidate could sell the false narrative that he had been the victim of an attack when he campaigned in the region”.

There are no excerpts from reports from Sheet to support the prosecutor’s argument.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office maintained that there was malice in the journalists’ action because cameraman Marcos Andrade, who filmed the incident, said he had never stated that the shooting in Paraisópolis had been “a farce of Tarcísio’s electoral campaign”.

This information also does not appear in any of the news reports. Sheet About the subject.

The person who asked for the images of the shooting to be deleted was Fabrício Cardoso de Paiva, who works at Abin (Brazilian Intelligence Agency). In his statement, he said he had known Tarcísio for around 30 years and that, as he had a degree and was an admirer of the candidate’s work, he participated in the campaign event.

At the time, according to witnesses, Paiva acted as a security guard and was armed.

After the shooting, Tarcísio’s own campaign stated that “a member of the team asked the Jovem Pan cameraman if he had filmed those who were at the scene and if it would be possible not to send that part of the video so as not to expose the people who were there” .

At that time, there was no questioning of the content of the reports by those involved.

Tarcísio, in a TV debate days after the shooting, said: “He [integrante da equipe] He asked the following: ‘delete this, delete that’. Do you know why? Concern for people.”

Following the complaint, Abraji, the São Paulo Journalists Union and Fenaj (National Federation of Journalists) issued statements this week criticizing the Public Prosecutor’s Office’s actions in the case.

“Abraji repudiates the prosecutor’s complaint and warns of the danger that, in a new election year, this type of judicial harassment ends up intimidating and provoking self-censorship of journalists who must, as a duty of office, scrutinize the candidates’ actions, regardless of party subtitles”, said Abraji, in a note.

The union and Fenaj, in a statement, cited a serious error in the complaint and “the attempt to criminalize journalists who are simply carrying out their work and fulfilling their professional duties”.